Plenty of things going on right now and not enough time to blog and/or contemplate. So this is what I remember from Easter Sunday.
CHURCH
We had a nice Easter Sunday this year. It was our first at this church. Last year my parents were visiting so we took them to Tom's church. We were afraid ours my be a bit much for them, and Tom is a good friend and we thought my parents would feel a little more comfortable there. At any rate, this year it was just Jane and myself, along with the Feipel 5. It is home for all of us now.
The morning started with a carry-in breakfast at 9:15. We discovered no one was really in charge as soon as we arrived. There were some tables set up in the back area, and the usual donuts were there plus some fruit and things. Jane made 2 egg casserole's and Carrie 1, and that was pretty much it for casserole-type stuff. We had to dig right in in order to get any before it was all devoured. The breakfast time was typically chaotic and we just ate at the chairs where we often sit for worship (nothing was set up for people to eat at, which I didn't expect there to be).
At 10 or so they had an egg hunt for the kids. It was inside and it was a little hard to keep the kids away from the eggs before the appropriate time, but everyone survived. When it started they had each kid go and find 5 eggs then come back to the front. When everyone had 5, they could all go and get 2 more. They did that a couple times then they just let them go find as many as they wanted. I thought that was a good idea so no one got ripped. The kids all seemed to do great.
There was plenty of down-time between that and the start of the 10:30 service, so I kind of wandered around just sort of making sure things were okay. There are usually some homeless guys who hang out inside the entrance, and kids like to play on the rails right there also. I just thought it would be a good idea to hang around there for awhile. I soon discovered, though, that there was no greeter today, so pretty soon I was handing out bulletins and greeting people as they arrived too. The bulletins ran out around 10:15 or so. There were a LOT of people who showed up today - the place was packed and we had to set up extra chairs - but apparently no one was prepared for extra people. It all worked out fine.
Other than that it was just a normal service. Communion took a little longer than normal what with so many people. The worship wasn't spectacular, but it was fine, especially considering the scheduled worship leader cancelled at the last minute. So, it was really just another Sunday other than all the extra people. I really like that about our church. It's typically borderline chaos, most people are genuinely glad to be there, and no one gets excited or upset about any type of behavior or circumstances.
LUNCH
After church we headed to our house and hosted the Feipel 5 for lunch. Jane had made lasagna, and we thought it was cooking on low heat while we were at church. Unfortunately our oven must have an automatic shut-off or something, because when we got home the oven was off and the lasagna was only a bit warm. So we didn't eat until later than planned. Drew Carrie hid some eggs for the kids and we let them play outside until time to eat. It was a beautiful 70-degree day. Eventually they left to go to Drew's family's and Jane and I took a nap.
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I may have forgotten a thing or two, but that's how it went down... the best as I can remember it.